THE HISTORY OF ALL SAINTS
2015
As early as 2014 several families in Brentwood who were members of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Green Hills began discussing establishing a new church in Brentwood. Despite the large churches and large number of churches in Brentwood, they recognized that many residents in Brentwood were not actually attending church regularly. It was their desire to see a church established that was based on the parish model - ministering the gospel intentionally in a local neighborhood. They also wanted the church to take the ordinary means of grace as its philosophy of ministry. In other words, they wanted the church to focus on the basic work that Christ describes in his Word for the Church: The preaching of the Word, the sacraments, and prayer. By these means Christ builds his people individually and as a body.
These families started a Bible study in their homes and when they were ready to call a pastor and begin worshipping on Sundays, they called Pastor Matthew Bradley from Covenant Presbyterian Church. The session and congregation of Covenant agreed to release Pastor Bradley from his call there and the Nashville Presbytery (PCA) also approved of the new church plant and Pastor Bradley's calling to lead it.
With all the formalities complete, the new community of believers met for a month of Sundays in the children's wing at Fellowship Bible Church in Brentwood before starting regular Sunday afternoon worship services in "the Barn" on the other side of Fellowship's property. They celebrated their first worship service on the first Sunday of Advent, 2015.
At the time the church was led by a provisional session of pastors and ruling elders from around the presbytery:
- TE Matthew Bradley, Planting Pastor
- RE Jack Watkins, Secretary (Covenant Presbyterian Church)
- RE Buddy Creech (Covenant Presbyterian Church)
- TE Nate Shurden (Cornerstone Presbyterian Church)
- RE Terry Cheney (Cornerstone Presbyterian Church)
- TE Cam Clausing (Parish Presbyterian Church)
- RE Bo Patton (Christ Presbyterian Church)
The regular daily and weekly leadership and vision were provided by the Leadership Team:
- Jay Hollis
- Chris Hough
- JD Stuart
- Travis Dunlap
- Matthew Bradley
2016
In April of 2016 the leadership team invited Jennifer Broad to join the staff as the Women's Ministry Coordinator.
In July of 2016 All Saints Presbyterian moved their worship services to Lipscomb Elementary School off of Concord Road. At the same time, they began to worship in the mornings rather than the afternoons.
Throughout this period the church was steadily growing and was quickly able to support itself financially. She began receiving members as well.
2017
In April of 2017 All Saints was able to call a second pastor, Pastor Nathan McCall. Together, Matt and Nathan shared the preaching and other pastoral responsibilities.
In June of 2017 the church began its formal officer training in preparation to call ruling elders and deacons.
2018
After a long formal process of preparation and petitioning the Nashville Presbytery, All Saints Presbyterian Church was approved to organize as a congregation of the PCA and did so in a Sunday evening worship service on the first Sunday of Advent in 2018, exactly three years after her first corporate worship service.
The first officers of the newly organized church were:
Elders
- Pastor Matthew Bradley
- Chase Hendrickson
- Jay Hollis
- Pastor Nathan McCall
- JD Stuart
Deacons
- Travis Dunlap
- Chris Hough
2019-2021
Throughout 2019 and into 2020 the church continued to grow, especially administratively through the gifts of Krista Stone, who came on as the administrative assistant. We also added 2 deacons to our list of officers, Aaron Broad and Chris Ross.
However, 2020 was a difficult year for All Saints as it was for everyone. We were among the first churches locally that had to cancel in-person worship and meet online due to the COVID exposure of our entire staff, Session, and Diaconate. The same week of the exposure our host, Lipscomb Elementary, canceled classes and asked us to vacate.
We met for Sunday morning worship online via Zoom until we were able to gather in person again the first Sunday in June. Our sister congregation in Franklin, Christ Community Church, permitted us to meet on Sunday mornings using their event center. We did so until the First Sunday of Advent, 2020, when we were able once again to meet at Lipscomb Elementary.
After the many disruptions to our meeting locations due to Covid-19 in 2020, we settled in at the Fifty Forward Martin Center in Brentwood in March of 2021. This new space has been a great blessing and continues to meet all our needs and provide us with opportunities for growth.
In late 2020 our administrative assistant, Krista Stone, moved to Florida. In February 2021 we hired Sarah Patteson as our permanent administrative assistant for All Saints Presbyterian Church.
In September of 2020 we began meeting on Wednesday evenings for midweek prayer and devotion at Granny White Park before moving our meeting location to the Martin Center in late 2021. We also were able to add a 5-8th Grade Sunday School class to our Sunday School schedule.
2022
In September of 2022 All Saints added a Sunday evening service for the purpose of helping our congregation observe the entire day as the Sabbath. We were also blessed to have Libby Ayers come on staff as a volunteer to coordinate our efforts at service in our community.
2023
Right at the end of 2022 God blessed All Saints with two additional ruling elders, Will Ayers and Billy King, who began their service formally in January of 2023. In 2023 we also brought Sarah Banks on staff as our first Children's Ministry Director and in August Matt Bonner came on board as a Ministry Fellow - the first of what we hope will be many to serve in this position throughout the coming years.
Throughout all of this, God has been extremely gracious and merciful to All Saints. Our congregation has remained intact and even grown. Our community here continues to be wonderfully supportive of one another. We continue to give thanks and praise to God for his kindnesses to All Saints Presbyterian Church.
OUR NAME AND LOGO
"All Saints" is a reference to the fact that Scripture calls all who put their trust in Christ "saints" which means "holy ones" or "those who are set apart". We, in this church and in our worship, are being joined by God to "all the saints" throughout history in the worship and service of God. Paul describes this as stones being joined together into a holy temple (Ephesians 2:19-22).
Our logo is called a "chi rho". The chi rho is an ancient symbol of the church that consists of the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ. We wanted our logo to connect us to the rest of the Christian church in history rather than set us apart from it. Also, the person and work of Jesus Christ - his life, death, and resurrection - are central to all human history as the ultimate act of deliverance.